Karma’s a b*tch, and she’s in Poland. Fresh off her new album’s release, Jojo Siwa claimed she is a contender to represent Poland at the 2025 Eurovision competition. However, Poland says otherwise.
A long-awaited rebrand
Coming off of a major controversy regarding the alleged abuse of children in her workplace, Siwa released her fourth EP “Guilty Pleasure” this past July. Including songs “Karma,” “Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s Today,” and the titular “Guilty Pleasure,” this marked her first album since the end of her Nickelodeon contract.
In a March interview with Billboard, Siwa teased her new music saying, “We are going from child star to adult artist… No one has made this dramatic of a change yet, no one has, in my generation, made this extreme of a switch, and I am the first in the generation. It is very scary, but someone’s gotta do it.” With the single release of “Karma,” it became very clear that Siwa was attempting to fully rebrand herself.
This comment in particular wasn’t received well and only increased the amount of hate Siwa was met with on the internet. Much of this backlash came from a place of confusion; many fans thought if she was undergoing an extreme switch, she would have made major changes to her aesthetic. By keeping her distinctive colorful and sparkly outfits that defined her as a young artist, Siwa is still contributing to her former image, despite her attempts to stray from it.
In a YouTube video titled “JOJO SIWA HAS LOST HER MIND,” influencer Quenlin Blackwell discussed Siwa’s attempted rebrand, noting how her releases and appearances are more confusing than ever. “Girl, you look like a fourth grader. This is not giving your adult era ’cause you’re still dressed in the children’s costumes,” Blackwell states.
Nonetheless, “Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s Today” gained popularity in Poland shortly after its release and has been dubbed “Disco Polo” by fans. This success prompted Siwa to discuss the possibility of representing the country at Eurovision, which is an annual international song competition.
What is Disco POlo, and Why is it So Important?
Disco polo is a genre of dance music that originated in Poland in the 1990s. The genre is also known as sidewalk music or backyard music, likely due to its popularity in small towns. A blend of convivial folk music and Italo disco, disco polo gained popularity when private TV network Polsat began airing “Disco Relax,” a nationwide broadcast devoted to the genre. The publicity for disco polo gave bands like Boys and Bayer Full larger platforms, which was not received well by urban elites.
Disco polo is much more than a music genre. With its connection to more rural areas, the presence of disco polo music is used as a political tool. The National Conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) pulls much of its support from rural areas and has used disco polo for political gain. During its time in power, the PiS influenced the state broadcaster TVP to air content centered around disco polo and prominent figures in the genre, including Zenek (Zenon) Martyniuk.
According to Notes From Poland, the PiS claimed to be “purging Poland of the old elites – in politics, the judiciary, the media, and also culture – and replacing them with figures who supposedly better serve and represents the true people.” By using disco polo, the PiS aimed to draw in a group of people it did not necessarily care for, hoping to elicit votes from them.
When the PiS was moved out of power in December of 2023, CNN emphasized how the party “alarmed international bodies and intensely divided Polish society.” The article continued to say that the “PiS had orchestrated an illiberal transformation of Poland since coming to power in 2015, seizing greater control of the country’s judiciary, public media, cultural institutions and companies, and cracking down on the rights of migrants, women, and LGBTQ+ people.”
Even though it is often mocked and criticized, disco polo continues to be intensely political, Notes From Poland states, “Disco polo is now, therefore, firmly ensconced in a political role where it provokes conflict between certain groups – the urban elites which criticize TVP for promoting this music and the more rural masses which appreciate the genre.” Despite facing criticism from elites, disco polo is still widely appreciated. Nationally sponsored Polish culture magazine Culture.pl remarked, “Disco polo is like McDonald’s. No one wants to be seen enjoying it, yet everybody does.”
The Day Jojo SIwa BEcame Polish
The first reference to Poland or disco polo found on Siwa’s social media is a TikTok from Aug. 20, where she uses the Polish flag emoji in the caption of a video promoting “Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s Today.” She later posted another video the same day stating she “woke up to getting canceled for writing a Polish bop.” While Siwa is ancestrally Polish, this focus on her heritage has divided Siwa’s spectators. Some of her audience appreciate her new song’s tie back to her ancestry, while others are confused by her sudden move in this direction.
In a post on Siwa’s TikTok account from Aug. 25, she danced to “Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s Today” as a flurry of Polish flag and Earth emojis appeared around her. This was met with immediate backlash and confusion, with some of the top comments reading: “Does she even know where Poland is,” and “She went from her bad girl phase to her Polish phase?”
At the beginning of September, Siwa posted multiple videos about a trip to Poland, referencing a meeting that she called “the best.” This post reinforced the Eurovision rumor, as fans assumed the meeting was for her possible appearance at the competition. This came after yet another video where the singer stated the possibility of her attending Eurovision has “actually become a real conversation… Eurovision’s into it… We’re talking with the people in Poland. If Poland wants me to represent, I will be there. I will make it happen.”
Due to Eurovision’s rules requiring each artist must compete with an unreleased song, Siwa would be unable to compete with “Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s Today,” but she seems to have a plan. In the same video, she continued to say, “I did come up with an idea [for a new song] that I 100% would do…I can’t wait — I think it would be so frickin’ fun.” In a video currently pinned on her TikTok account, Siwa danced to “Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s Today” with the text “preparing for Eurovision” at the top of the screen.
However, in a now-edited video discussing Poland from Sept. 20, Siwa initially placed the Indonesian flag in the caption of her post instead of the Polish flag. She was met with death threats in the comments, with viewers saying they wished the van in the background of her video had hit her. Since this post, Siwa has notably refrained from posting using “Yesterday’s Tomorrow’s Today” or discussing Poland.
jojo, have you learned nothing?
While Siwa has been making these claims that she is in real conversations with Poland for a possible Eurovision deal, the BBC says otherwise. In an article released shortly after Siwa started discussing Eurovision, BBC claimed: “Polish broadcaster TVP, which is involved in choosing the country’s Eurovision acts, said it wasn’t speaking to artists and hadn’t made any decisions about 2025.” Meaning, that if Siwa is in negotiations, they are likely not close to a deal, or this was just another publicity stunt to promote “Guilty Pleasure.”
Eurovision 2025 will take place from May 13 to 17, and maybe Siwanators will see their guilty pleasure there. However, as it looks now, Siwa’s appearance at Eurovision may remain as a joke she made on TikTok.